The World's Not Gonna End
by Kanthia
Summary: A series of Dragon Ball Z drabbles written in part for the 365 Drabble Challenge. 16: Frieza is, first and foremost, a conqueror.
1. Papa

**Title**: Papa  
**Fandom**: Dragonball Z  
_Pairing/Characters_: Gohan, Piccolo  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

_Papa is dead,_ he knows._ Papa is dead, and in soon more of the men who killed him will be here with their hands and feet and tails. They'll drop from the sky like Radditz did and -- and --_

Mister Piccolo must be able to sense when his mind wanders, because the next hit connects with the sound of something breaking. He's not sure if it's a bone or a heart as he's thrown back across and into the swamp, but figures it out when he gets up after he lands with tears streaming down his face.

He's cried before- he cries a lot, because Papa is gone, far beyond the world -- but this time is different. Mister Piccolo is walking towards him but the tears don't stop, not when he's looming over, his shadow long with the sunset at his back; not when he picks him up by his hair and tosses him to dry land by their fire pit. He isn't sure for how long after he cries and cries and cries, but sleep comes eventually, and he dreams of Daddy dying.

When he wakes up it's a dark and moonless night (well, it's always a moonless night now, but the stars seem brighter and more menacing) and Mister Piccolo is cooking something over a cold fire. His stomach rumbles a little too loud -- it's some sort of meat, and it smells savory and warm.

He crawls over. Mister Piccolo looks at him wearily, then takes the spit off the fire and holds it out.

"Eat."

"But --" he takes it anyways, because he's learned not to question what Mister Piccolo tells him to do. "-- Aren't you hungry, too?"

Mister Piccolo gives him that weary look, the one he doesn't use very often. "I don't eat meat." He takes a nearby coconut shell half-filled with water and drinks before placing it near Gohan.

"Mister --"

"You need strength for tomorrow."

Crying has made him week, and besides, he's terrified of Mister Piccolo. He eats the entire carcass, tearing through it like some sort of animal himself. He starts to cry again while eating, gasping for breath through too-hot mouthfuls, his tongue and his eyes burning. When he's finished he puts the spit down and sniffles, wiping his dirty face with a dirty hand.

Mister Piccolo sighs before getting up and puting a hand on his shoulder. Gohan looks up, bewildered, but the hand does not go away. They sit like that for hours.

The presence beside him is foreign, so foreign, something lost a million miles away from where he needs to be. Gohan has lost his Daddy and Mister Piccolo has lost his home, and maybe that's why the hand feels okay. Maybe that's why Gohan's heart feels a little lighter and Daddy feels a little closer.

The sun rises. A new day dawns.


	2. Epilogue

**Title**: Epilogue  
**Fandom**: Dragonball Z  
_Pairing/Characters_: Goku  
Warning(s): None.  
Genre: Gen

Of course, Goku had a curious sort of existence -- it's not every creature that starts life slightly stronger than a mite and finishes slightly stronger (that is, a lot stronger) than a god. And all in a lifetime of sixty years! Yes, Goku had a curious sort of existence, and a busy one at that; like all living things he, too, eventually died.

Well, to say 'death' would be to misinform, for Goku had died many times. This was a death of a different nature. This was not a false death, a mere ending of the physical life and transference of the spirit to a new plane -- this was a true death, the fading of a great man from memory, and the transformation of story to legend, legend to myth. Goku was, in time, forgotten on his precious Earth. This was his last and final death.

He did not mind. He could not mind, for he knew what death truly was. He had seen and done things that would destroy a perfectly sane man and he ended it all with a smile. He waved as that final, merciless, peaceful end of it all came to claim him, and said he would watch over them for as long as his eyes did more than see. His heart burst as it had twice before (and once in a future unwritten) with love and a dying wish for safety and serenity for all.

He had time on his hands now -- eternity, if you will -- and it was more time than he'd ever had before in his life. The first thing he did was request a visit to Purgatory.

Purgatory was peaceful if dull, devoid of the suffering in Hell and the joy in Heaven, but with a distinct sense of serenity for those who did evil but felt a change of heart while living. In his search he saw many old friends and foes, some whom he paused to exchange words with, others whom he offered condolences to. He found the man he was looking for sitting by a fountain, deep in thought.

"I saw you coming," the man said (well, not quite a man, but a Saiyan). When he opened his eyes they were wet with tears. "Kakkarot, my son."

"It's you," Goku said.

After sixty long years, after battles and deaths and sacrifice and love and life, after the entire universe had been rearranged, after fate had been changed, father and son finally embraced for the first time.


	3. Epilogue, Step II

**Title**: Epilogue (Step II)  
**Fandom**: Dragonball Z  
_Pairing/Characters_: Goku, Bardock  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

They spent hours, days even, talking about everything they could think of. Goku found his father surprisingly easy to converse with -- he had feared that the man would be every part a Saiyan, half Radditz's smirking evil, half Nappa's chaotic evil. Instead, he discovered him to be like Vegeta -- cold, yes, but redeemable; distant, but with a reclusive nature that betrayed the ability to self-reflect.

"How did it feel, Kakkarot?" Bardock carefully took a blade of grass and separated it into sections. "…When it happened. When you faced --"

"-- Frieza?"

"Frieza, yes." He sighed. Goku wondered if he dared share the story of how his home world, too, had once been lost. He closed his eyes, listened to the slight hum of an otherworldly wind and sent himself back to that awful place.

"There was…a feeling," he said, "Of something breaking. I felt -- overwhelmed, but at the same time like something inside me was being peeled away, and all that was left was the drive to fight. It was…"

"…Exhilarating."

"…Terrifying." Bardock chuckled at that. "I'm not a Saiyan -- not in that way. I could only force myself to think about how I was going to hurt my son."

"Yes, your son. He's half-Saiyan, half-Earthling? And he could still --"

"-- Both of them could, Vegeta's children as well."

"So Prince Vegeta had children with a human woman. I suppose that chill in the air is from Hell freezing over."

Suddenly serious, Goku lowered his eyes. "He's not the Vegeta you remember. A lot has changed."

"I suppose a lot has. You had a power level of two when you were born. And now --"

"I can get it up to one hundred billion if I work at it, but it rests at four billion." They both laughed at the audacity of a universe that had made room for something so spectacular. "I try not to think about it -- just focus on winning the battle, or training for the next one."

"To think that you're my son," Bardock said. "I'd tell you I'm proud, but I don't think that would quite cut it."

"Thanks, father," Goku said, and meant it.


	4. Give Him Space

**Title**: Give Him Space  
**Fandom**: Dragonball Z  
_Pairing/Characters_: Goku, Vegeta  
Warning(s): None.  
Genre: Gen

Vegeta brooded easily and often. It was less a part of his character and more a part of his being -- it came naturally to him to dwell on the past. Goku, on the other hand, brooded rarely. Sure, he was occasionally concerned and even more occasionally angry, but to him the past and the future were two completely separate things.

So he never knew quite what to say when he found Vegeta brooding; at first he'd crack jokes or try to change the subject to something light, but Goku knew Vegeta better now. He wasn't looking for happiness or companionship. He was looking for solace in a lonely universe, the hardest thing to give.

He found Vegeta in the woods by his house one night, perched on the edge of the cliff where Gohan had learned to fly, staring up into the stars. If he didn't know Vegeta so well he would have assumed he was angry, but the hard expression seemed sad. It hurt Goku to see him in so much pain.

He landed softly. Vegeta did not turn. "Is it…" he coughed. "Is it something you want to talk about?"

It never was, of course. He was greeted with a stony silence. But being the person he was, he couldn't be satisfied with an unhappy ending; he took a seat next to Vegeta, raising his eyes to the same sky.

"It's…gone," Vegeta said, after a long period of silence. Goku looked towards him. "Everyone's gone. My -- our --_ home_."

He wanted to say something, wanted to say that Earth was their home now, but was surprised by a sudden pain around his heart. A reverberation of racial memory shook him and he, too, was saddened at the senseless loss of each and every one of his brothers.

"It's -- we have a home here, Vegeta."

"You know what I mean, Kakkarot."

He did, of course, but neither of them could quite put it in words. So they sat there for hours, watching the speckled sky, mourning for the cold, empty spot in space where their home once was.


	5. Fear

**Title**: Fear  
**Fandom**: Dragonball Z  
_Pairing/Characters_: Piccolo, Gohan  
Warning(s): None.  
Genre: Gen

Mister Piccolo's voice drops low when he says it, but Gohan already knows -- he feels their power immediately after the break through the sky, a terrible pressure that pushes down on him with white heat, a fire raining from the sky that destroys everything it touches. He knows that they have come, and he is afraid.

"Don't be scared, Gohan," Mister Piccolo growls. "Stand strong. They're going to come this way."

He tries, really tries to stand strong, to be like his father, to be like Mister Piccolo. But it's not the first time in his life that he feels that white coiling snake in his belly, numbness in his arms and a lightness in his head; he's terrified, and he knows it.

"I'm scared," he whispers, because Dad has taught him that above all you need to be honest. Mister Piccolo gives him that look and sighs before kneeling over him. He seems somehow larger than before, completely blocking out the sun and the space where the moon once was. With a swift movement, as though his mid was made up before he gave himself a chance to think, he places a hand on Gohan's head and ruffles his hair.

"I believe in you, kid," he says, and it's dense, heavier than anything he's said all year. A sudden image floats behind Gohan's eyes of a yellow sky and green water, a place far, far away; of a race slowly driven to extinction; of a desperate longing only to grant the wishes of others.

"I-" He feels tears in the corners of his eyes.

"Shush," Piccolo says, and musses his hair once more before standing up again. "I like to think that thought -- that thought I just showed you -- when I feel alone. So if you ever think that nobody's going to save you, just think of that place...and think of me, looking out for you, kid."

The Saiyan presence grows stronger, but somehow he's no longer scared.


	6. Nightmare

**Title**: Nightmare  
**Fandom**: Dragonball Z  
_Pairing/Characters_: Android 18  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

When Crystal is jolted awake from the nightmare of losing their parents again, it's to another nightmare – suspended in some kind of green viscous liquid, everything between her shoulders and knees wrapped tightly in bandages, wires coiled around her arms and legs. She tries to scream but a ventilator is threaded deep down into her throat, and the slightest movement sends a wave of nausea through her.

Her heart racing wildly, she moves her eyes while her body will not listen to her. She can't see outside whatever tank she's in, the glass frosted, but in big black numbers she sees **81**. No – that's backwards. Her tank is labelled **18**.

What does it mean? Where's Chris? _Oh, God, where's Chris?_

The last thing she remembers was the two of them building a fire by the side of the road. They had been walking towards the capital from their home (now a few charred embers stuck in the ground) but darkness had fallen much earlier than they had thought – there was some meat from their house she had managed to save that was going to go bad anyways, so they thought they'd stave off hunger for a few more hours and continue their journey in the morning. Then there was a truck – and then a flash of light –

"She's stirred," she hears a voice say, from beyond her little hell. There's a little shift of colour on the other side of the frosted glass. "Number eighteen, can you hear me?"

There is a period of silence. Then, the same voice, "Crystal?"

She turns her head instinctively upon hearing her name called. The voice tuts. "She still remembers it. Take her up to level six. We'll work on her tonight."

There is the sound of something clicking, and suddenly her body burns bright with pain unimaginable. The darkness descends once again, and she is driven back from hell to her sleeping nightmare.


	7. Remember the Name

**Title**: Remember the Name  
**Fandom**: Dragonball Z  
_Pairing/Characters_: Android 18  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

Crystal was the older of the twins by two or three minutes, and Chris' position as the youngest had augmented his natural immaturity somewhat. She was the hard-headed, cool one; he was prone to being emotional. Where she was cold, he was excitable. She knew his temperament better than anyone, and after a period during childhood where they had hated one another's guts, they had grown quite close.

So the whole situation is made much worse by the fact that she doesn't know where he is, whether he's going through the same torture as she is, or whether he's alive at all.

She goes through periods now where she forgets her name and has to struggle to remember who she is and where she came from; she never remembers her life on its own, but rather remembers _Crystal_ by remembering _Chris_, and remembering his birthday and age helps her remember since they are hers, too. She's desperate for any semblance of reality in between periods of wake and black, a black much deeper than sleep. And all the while the green fluid envelops her like a cold womb and every so often a man taps on the glass and calls her names.

She's starting to respond to _Eighteen_ faster than she does _Crystal_, and it's scaring her. So she turns everything inside her towards Chris, reconstructing every moment of their lives together from the first memory to the bright flash of a headlight on the highway that signaled the beginning of – of this.

One day she fights her way out of the blackness, her mind strained from the effort, and when she calms down she automatically thinks of her twin brother. She closes her eyes, pictures his dark hair and pale eyes, and for the thousandth time wonders where Seventeen is.

Wait –

_What is her brother's name?_


	8. The World's Not Gonna End

**Title**: The World's Not Gonna End  
**Fandom**: Dragonball Z  
_Pairing/Characters_: Goku  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

A lot races through Goku's head in the moments before he makes up his mind. He had bet a lot on Gohan – the whole world, in fact – but the one thing he hadn't planned for was the little bit of Saiyan rearing its ugly head within his son. He should have thought about it, but he didn't, and Goku doesn't dwell on the pat. He has to think about the future now, and if he doesn't act everybody's future will be cut short.

It comes to him suddenly, what he has to do, with a little internal kick and a tingling at the base of his stomach. He's not afraid of death; he's looked it in the eye countless times, and been there once already, but he's been revived once and he once he does it again he's going to a place that you can't come back from.

Maybe he shouldn't come back.

Maybe he shouldn't come back – the Saiyans, Frieza, Cell, the Androids and the countless other things that threatened the earth all came for him. Earth opened its arms to him and he only gave it trouble. Perhaps now it's time to give back to it what it deserves: peace, true peace, a place for Gohan to grow up without fear.

He's made up his mind. He's resolute, ready to die, almost happy about it. Chi Chi will weep in the open and Gohan will cry in the dark, Vegeta will hate him for giving up before their final battle, and – well, Earth needed a new saviour, anyways. The more he thinks about it the less time there is left for a final goodbye.

He breathes out, breathes in, and searches through the cold darkness of the universe for King Kai's chi. It's hard to find through the black pressure of Cell's power but he locks on to it and forms that tiny thread between them. He moves next to Cell, looks Gohan in the eyes and smiles for him one last smile.


	9. In Borrowed Clothes

**Title**: In Borrowed Clothes  
**Fandom**: Dragonball Z  
_Pairing/Characters_: Vegeta  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

When they emerge from the Time Chamber they are changed beings, and it enrages Vegeta just to see their pathetically lost faces as they admire the clouds and the sky. Kakkarot, the sniveling excuse of a full-blooded Saiyan, says he wants to fight as an earthling and turns away the clothing of his brothers; it takes all of Vegeta's fortitude to not blast his head off for that. An earthling? Kakkarot is no earthling, and he's an idiot if he deludes himself into thinking otherwise.

Kakkarot's little kid is no better, if not worse. But Vegeta cares little for the confused Saiyan-Earthling-Namekian with wide eyes and a soft face. He's weak, and no weakling will ever be a true Saiyan – he may have Saiyan blood, but he belongs to Earth and the insects that crawl along its surface. He is nothing.

But why must Kakkarot continue to deny his proud heritage? He is half of all the remaining Saiyans and a Super-Saiyan too, and yet here he is refusing to even wear the clothes of his fellow-men. It couldn't have possibly come from having a child with an earth-woman; Vegeta has done that, and it hasn't turned him into an Earthling.

But – well, every time Kakkarot has seen Saiyan armour it has been on his enemies, on Frieza's men, and...on himself, when he came to Earth with the intent to destroy. So perhaps –

No, he can't start thinking that way, or else he'll turn into Kakkarot, a bumbling idiot of a Saiyan who wears Earth clothing and fights for idiotic notions of peace and justice. But despite his hurried thoughts, even Vegeta knows that something has changed within him. It upsets him to even think about that, so he covers his face with a scowl to hide his racing heart. Just thinking about Kakkarot has lead him down that path of thought, and it worries him – that even he, the prince of a long-dead race of mighty warriors, can change. After all, he's worn Earth clothing himself.


	10. Strength, Wit and Beauty

**Title**: Strength, Wit and Beauty  
**Fandom**: Dragonball Z  
_Pairing/Characters_: Frieza  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

If you opened an interplanetary dictionary, you would likely find the Nijiim listed as 'once-proud'. Descended from a particular species of lizard, they shed their bulky tails, pushed themselves up onto two legs, and learned to regress backwards or slip forwards at will. They prided themselves on three things: sharp wit, fighting power, and piercing beauty; no Nijii exemplified these traits more than their prince. His name, in native tongue, was Tzarba. He was intelligent, strong, and incredibly handsome, but (most importantly) knew how to make good use of his gifts.

The Nijiim lived on a rather large planet they called Talim, lit by a bright day sun and a dimmer night sun, mostly covered by one gigantic sea and the rest by dense jungle. They were star-worshippers, as the stars came out perhaps once every thirty days when the day and night suns were farthest apart in the sky, allowing true night to fall; they were faithful but not peaceful, and may have killed themselves off through war had the Royal Family not forced them to lay down arms and focus on projects of colonization and civilization.

It didn't matter, in the end, for their doom was rushing towards them from space in the form of a large ship containing a little tyrant. There came a day when Frieza turned his eye towards the green-and-blue Talim and realized what a pretty sum it would go for. But the Nijiim were tall and proud and would not go down without a fight, so when the Saiyan force found themselves at the mercy of two suns and no moon, Frieza came himself.

Most of the Nijiim begged for death and Frieza was in a good mood, so he gave them their wish. But Tzarba was a well-educated Nijii and knew intelligence and strength and handsomeness when he saw it; Frieza appreciated those qualities in others as well, plus loyalty and a veiled hatred for Saiyans. Tzarba could give him all of those things. Frieza's forked tongue was not good for speaking Nijii and thus changed Tzarba's name to Zarbon, taking him under his wing; the ship lifted from the dead planet Talim and disappeared into the black clutch of space.


	11. Afraid

**Title**: Afraid  
**Fandom**: Dragonball Z  
_Pairing/Characters_: Gohan  
Warning(s): None.  
Genre: Gen  
A favourite of mine.

"Fear," the professor says. "One of the most basic drives. Found even in the tiniest insect, a response to dangerous stimuli that prolongs life in any way possible. Found in many forms – the pill bug will curl, the rat will freeze, the wolf will fight, the newt will run. Son Gohan."

Gohan stands and stammers out some sort of sound of acknowledgment.

"Son Gohan. Tell us about a time you felt afraid."

He pauses and tastes the inside of his mouth. "Afraid?"

x x x

It has been a hot day, hot enough that his skin has burned which adds a sting below the pain, and Mister Piccolo lies dead beside him. Papa hasn't come back yet, lost somewhere between life and death, and all around him lie the dead bodies – Yamcha and Tien and the memory of Chiaotzu – of people stronger than him, killed one by one.

The sky is red, like the battlefield. He himself is drained of every inch of life. Nappa turns towards him, his chaotic evil overwhelming...he grins as he raises his foot, and Gohan is afraid.

x x x

Namek's green sky and green water roll around him like thunder, a harsh contrast to the clear blues on Earth. The thunder for eyes is complimented with thunder for all other senses as Frieza laughs and transforms to a terrible thing; the black pressure radiating from his body is so intense that is brings tears to Gohan's eyes.

The power is so great that it drowns out everyone else – he can't feel Krillin or Vegeta, can't feel Piccolo, can't feel Dad. Gohan can only feel Frieza, and he is afraid.

x x x

He wasn't afraid when Dad first called his name, because he was long past needing fear to drive his state. He was confused and overwhelmed, but not afraid.

He wasn't afraid when the fight with Cell started, either; he was beyond fear, only feeling pain and some sort of instinct (Saiyan or human – he isn't sure) to kill.

He wasn't afraid when Sixteen died. He was angry, so angry that the floodgate he had built within him burst and everything poured out at once.

But when Cell, imperfect and desperate, prepares to take the planet with him; when Dad, with no other option, says his final goodbyes...then, Gohan is afraid.

x x x

"I failed a test once, and Mom asked me to show it to her," Gohan stammers. The class gets a laugh, the professor shrugs his shoulders, and life moves on.


	12. A Bond Of

**Title**: A Bond Of  
**Fandom**: Dragonball Z  
_Pairing/Characters_: Vegeta, Gohan  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

Vegeta didn't think much of Kakkarot's brat, initially. When he had first landed on the sty called Earth he might have paused for a half-second to notice the weeping little idiot clinging to the Namekian's leg, but certainly not long enough to give him any sort of consideration.

Thinking back, though, he may have benefited from taking a closer look at the kid's ability – his power flared up dramatically when threatened, but like a fire quickly went out. A rather useless ability; however, such a change was the signature of a Super Saiyan. And if Kakkarot's little halfling had a trace of it, then Kakkarot –

No, that wasn't why he turned his thoughts towards the sniveling little half-breed on Namek. There was something else, something not entirely Saiyan that he had picked up on Earth. In their defense, the Earthlings had taught him many things; with their low strength compared to the other denizens of their planet, they had learned how to hide their powers, how to sense powers without scouters, and a whole assortment of ways to run and hide. But when he had learned those useful little abilities for himself he had picked up something else – for the Earthlings, always threatened with death or worse, had a natural tendency to love their children. It gave them hope, while Saiyans found hope in themselves.

Planet Vegeta is a memory in space, perhaps a few floating pebbles of dust hurtling towards a distant star. The great Saiyan race is once-great, and of the two left one identifies as an Earthling. So when Vegeta thinks or looks to Kakkarot's little child he can't help but feel a kind of bond with him, a little hope, and the tiniest bit of pride. Maybe that is why, as Frieza pummels the last bit of life out of the boy, for the first time in his life he is worried about someone other than him about to die.


	13. Flash

**Title**: Flash  
**Fandom**: Dragonball Z  
_Pairing/Characters_: Krillin  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

He'd heard from a bunch of people that your life flashes before your eyes when you're about to die. Krillin wasn't entirely sure what was up with the whole flashing business, but in that moment he might have understood the part about life.

Thinking back, he probably should have known better – pure spirit couldn't take down Vegeta, and neither should it Frieza.

What was usually apprehension after a battle, wondering whether or not the enemy was actually gone, in this case was replaced with elation – Frieza's presence vanished, a peacefully quiet energy surrounding the rushing water – when they realized that the fight was over, they were alive, and they could return home. But Frieza defied rules of good and evil in the same way Vegeta had, rising from his ashes unannounced. The only thing that had changed about him were the burns on his skin and the expression on his face; it alone could kill. Krillin had never seen so much anger or hate in one being.

Krillin had almost screamed, elation dissolving like sugar in the ocean. It was replaced with something worse than what was there before, because this time Goku was three quarters dead and there was no-one coming to save them, no gods or heroes, only Frieza and four exhausted inferior beings.

Piccolo's death had been swift but painful, it not even dawning on Krillin that with the loss of his life came the loss of Earth's Dragonballs and their only bleak hope. He was still reeling when Frieza reached out with his energy and grabbed him, sealing his fate.

He saw a lot of things as he soared up into the sky, tugged by an invisible hand more powerful than his entire body; he saw his mother and father, who had died long before their time; he saw Bulma and Oolong and Master Roshi; he saw Piccolo and Radditz and Nappa and Vegeta and all those other evil things that threatened their little slice of peace; he saw Goku, smiling as he died, his heart burst and spilling over, whispering to him that he was placing Gohan and the Earth's future in their hands. And then he realized that he didn't want to die – he didn't want to leave it all behind –

_Help me – _


	14. Purify

**Title**: Purify  
**Fandom**: Dragonball Z  
_Pairing/Characters_: Piccolo, Gohan  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

Piccolo doesn't like thinking about how he's changed – not one bit. He doesn't want to waste even a second musing on what he should be and what he has become instead, so he thinks about Gohan instead.

The little runt has changed in the year since he wrestled him from Son Goku's friends, from a whiny little twerp to…still a whiny little twerp, but one that knows how to fight. Give him a couple more years, maybe show him a few cold bodies or beat him a little bit closer to death, and he would really become something.

The fact that he's content with Gohan's transformation suddenly unnerves him. It's not like him to put up with this kind of behaviour, especially when he promised himself a year ago to turn the tyke into a little demon. So maybe while Gohan has gotten a little bit of change from him, he's changed a little bit because of –

He growls, realizing he's breaching familiar and unwanted territory, but he knows the truth and he can't lie to himself about it. Being alone with a five-year-old belonging to his most hated enemy for twelve months has caused some tumultuous shift within him that he doesn't quite understand yet. He knows he's still evil – he's not planting flowers or saving babies like some sort of idiot – but he feels calmer now, has less of a chaotic impulse to kill and destroy everything in front of him.

He turns to Gohan sleeping beside him, round as a little dumpling, and wonders if he made the right choice. Maybe it was the right choice for the world, but not for himself – or, at least, his old self.

x x x

"It goes to show, Popo," Kami says, gazing down from the top of the world, "That there is no evil so deep it cannot be purified. Piccolo is the manifestation of our darker side, a pure evil…and even he has changed. Some of it was Gohan's doing, but some was him opening his own heart."

It seemed that Gohan had more power in him than anyone had ever imagined.


	15. All Roads Lead

**Title**: All Roads Lead  
**Fandom**: Dragonball Z  
_Pairing/Characters_: Piccolo  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

After the Cell Games are over and the people of the Earth are safe again, after the Dragon is summoned and the damage is undone, after his new friends and old friends return to their homes and hiding places, Piccolo finds himself with nowhere to go. Rather – he has somewhere to go, two of them, but one for part of his heart and one for another part. He uses his uncertainty as an excuse to listen to his Kami half and rest for a while on the Lookout.

He is not happy there, however; he didn't imagine he would be, as the Piccolo part of him still yearns for loneliness, and the Nail in him looks to the sky at night for Namek, a trillion miles away, lost in space. It makes his chest heavy and his heart ache. It wakes him up in the middle of the night, chill with sweat, tears in his eyes. He hates himself for the indecision, but he knows that with three souls in one body it was only a matter of time before something started to break.

He considers his options. He could stay on the lookout with Dende, he could find his way to Namek, or he could return to his solitude and his training. The first option he discards, for it has already proven itself to be ineffective; the second he knows will never happen. He does not belong on Namek. He belongs on Earth.

So the third, then. But Piccolo Junior trained in solitude because he wanted – needed – to defeat Son Goku, and Son Goku is dead. So –

No, there was one other time when Piccolo Junior was at peace. In that one year when he trained Son Gohan. Yes, even now it is a fond memory, and as the more he thinks about it the happier he is. For Kami wants something to protect, Nail wants a family and Piccolo wants a purpose; Gohan is all of those things.

A month after the Cell Games are over, Piccolo's heart is whole once more.


	16. Conquest

**Title**: Conquest  
**Fandom**: Dragonball Z  
_Pairing/Characters_: Frieza  
Warning(s): None  
Genre: Gen

Frieza was, first and foremost, a conqueror. Money he cared little for (though it was an end result of conquering) and the last thing on his mind was getting tangled up in bureaucracy or politics once something was within his control. No, the only thing he cared about really was the first half of conquering – destroying everything that stood in his way.

Destiny seemed to know what he wished for and had prepared him well for greatness, for he was born into power both physically – he was the son of King Cold, the last of the most powerful race in the universe – and over others, for his father owned and ran the greatest amalgamation of planets and races the universe had ever seen. He was not weak enough to allow others to control him even at a young age. Killing his birth mother was supposed to be his coming-of-age ritual when he turned eighteen, but he did it when he was five.

He was given a small cluster of solar systems and an even smaller contingent of soldiers when he turned six and was told to do what he please with them; Father trusted him, and Frieza trusted his own power. He turned towards his computers and out towards the galaxy.

His first target was a small planet crawling with monkeys. They were powerful, more powerful than anyone in Father or Cooler's armies, and he needed them. Conquer by power alone was impossible, so he turned to other means. Seventy of his best men were lost infiltrating the planet and learning their secrets, but thirty days after putting his ship into orbit the Turlean moon was ripped from orbit and, in essence, taken hostage.

They had a boy-king named Vegeta, a fool who worshipped power, and he surrendered the planet to Frieza with the promise of his monkeys having targets other than one another for their battle lust. And so, for the first and last time, Frieza conquered a planet with means other than pure power. He made a mental note to himself to punish the Saiyans for forcing him to go to such lengths.


End file.
